MICROWAVED PLASTIC WRAP HAS 10,000,000 TIMES FDA LIMITS OF CARCINOGENS!

Sent to me by a reader: Hello Folks. Hopefully all of you are already well enough informed so as to avoid the use of a microwave oven due to the many detrimental effects consuming microwaved food has upon our health, but "just in case", here is some interesting info sent to me by Ron Scanlon -- many thanks, Ron! Cheers, Doug
University of California, Davis Medical Center 2315 Stockton Boulevard, Sacramento, California 95817

As a seventh grade student, Claire Nelson learned that di(ethylhexyl)adepate (DEHA), considered a carcinogen, is found in plastic wrap. She also learned that the FDA had never studied the effect of microwave cooking on plastic-wrapped food. Three years later, with encouragement from her high school science teacher, Claire set out to test what the FDA had not.
Although she had an idea for studying the effect of microwave radiation on plastic wrapped food, she did not have the equipment. Eventually, Dr. Jon Wilkes at the National Center for Toxicological Research agreed to help her. The research center, which is affiliated with the FDA, let her use its facilities to perform her experiments, which involved microwaving plastic wrap in virgin olive oil.

Claire tested four different plastic wraps and "found not just the carcinogens but also xenoestrogen was migrating [into the oil]...." Xenoestrogens are linked to low sperm counts in men and to breast cancer in women. Throughout her junior and senior years, Claire made a couple of trips each week to the research center, which was 25 miles from her home, to work on her experiment. An article in Options reported "her analysis found that DEHA was migrating into the oil at between 200 parts and 500 parts per million. The FDA standard is 0.05 parts per billion."

Her summarized results have been published in science journals. Claire Nelson received the American Chemical Society's top science prize for students during her junior year and fourth place at the International Science and Engineering Fair (Fort Worth,Texas) as a senior. "Carcinogens --At 10,000,000 Times FDA Limits" Options, May 2000. Published by People Against Cancer, 515-972-4444

So, it's up to you. One point to bear in mind is that our society runs pretty much on money. The multinational companies who make microwave ovens make a lot from the sale of them. There is no money in telling people to stop microwave cooking. There is, however, the satisfaction of knowing that you are saving people's lives and future happiness by spreading the word to stop eating microwaved food.

ALTERNATIVES

You can heat food quickly in a convection oven. It's just an ordinary oven with a fan.
You can also easily and quickly heat up food, even frozen pasta, by using a saucepan with a lid and a little water, to moisten it from the steam.

If someone is coming home late, and you want to give them warm food when they arrive, put a saucepan lid over the food while it is on a plate. Put the plate of food on a simmering saucepan of water. It will stay warm without drying up.
If you want to cook food, do it the old fashioned ways - it tastes much better that way!

Much of the above information is from an article in the 1994 edition of Acres Magazine, USA, by Tom Valentine.
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